Filtered light

Light has the potential to make one see and understand something differently: there is perhaps no other single factor that has a more profound impact on how one feels in a place. In Japan, where natural light is traditionally filtered through panels of Shoji paper or fine timber screens, the effect of the subdued light suffusing spaces is both to calm the spirit and sharpen the senses, heightening the way one experiences the texture of a tatami mat, the grain of a length of timber or the junction between surfaces, as well as fostering an intensity of atmosphere.